


with the tide

by fakeclover



Series: mermay [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Agender Character, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Disabled Character, MerMay, Other, Pre-Relationship, Tree Houses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 05:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18804553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fakeclover/pseuds/fakeclover
Summary: Minseok housesits his uncle's house by the sea and gets an unexpected... call.





	with the tide

**Author's Note:**

> noticed it was mermay and wanted to write something for it bc i really neglected merfolk up to now. this one was unprompted though and started out as a child fic... oh well.
> 
> 🎶 the fic title is a line fragment borrowed from 'sea song' by robert wyatt

"It's a cute story but may I suggest some changes?"

Minseok froze where he lay on a small mattress playing with a pen as he recited the words to himself, today's doodles done and pinned to the wooden walls. The voice coming from the conch shell was crisp and clear, nothing like the dull murmur of the ocean heard when he held it against his ear.

"Already sulking? Can't take constructive criticism?" the voice asked.

Minseok picked up the shell and propped himself up. His fingers were shaking around it. He'd thought he'd heard other noises than the sea sometimes, splashes, sighs, other elaborate tricks of his mind—still, he knew about seashell resonance, had never had reason to believe his uncle. Even if he started every day in the tree house greeting the sea, offering his ear, his friendship, his thoughts as he'd been taught, his half-baked stories as he'd written them.  
Being made aware that someone had actually been listening— "No, I—"

"You made progress since Sunday," the voice cut in, not unfriendly but firm. "As I said, it's cute. You're wrong about the merboy though."

"Am I?" Minseok's heart was racing. They didn't sound anything like Jongin or Baekhyun, and he had never told them. The seashell, his great-grandparents—an alleged union of land and sea—were a well-kept family secret. He thought about the way the skin between his fingers came just a little further up if you knew to look for it, thought about his entire family's deep-rooted fear of the ocean, as if it would never let them go were they to set foot in it. The small driftwood figures under his pillow that filled him with calm, turned his sleep restful.

"Yeah. We don't have a concept of gender, or parenthood."

They said nothing more, the seashell's sound reduced to the familiar murmur once more, and Minseok felt like they let him take their words in, prepared for his answer. The changes wouldn't be too dramatic, he thought. Even if this was one of Jongin's pranks, this was weird enough to be real. He could keep the draft and risk it, sweet-talk Junmyeon into the changes.

"So what do you suggest? Do I call them a merchild?"

He heard a small laugh, more a sign of protest than amusement. "All sea creatures are children of the sea, born and raised. Address your main character by a name. No pronouns."

Minseok made a big note on his drawing pad, the lines too squiggly. "What's yours then?" he asked, after swallowing down the rising nervousness.

"Kyungsoo works," the voice said.

"I'm Kim Minseok."

Kyungsoo laughed again, delighted this time. "Did your family not teach you to never offer the sea your name?"

Now that he'd been reminded, he found a memory of a grandparent sitting him down, urging him to and warning him about talking to the sea, to never let silence get between them, to never reveal his full name. Minseok's frightened silence seemed enough of an answer.

"Don't worry. The generation responsible for that belief is not speaking for us anymore." Kyungsoo sighed. "Anyway, I'll do the sensitivity reading free of charge if you show me that tree house you work in. I've never seen one before. And bring kimchi."

Minseok said yes before he could think about it, about all the things he just rambled on about to the sea every day, and Kyungsoo told him when and where Kyungsoo wanted to be picked up. Minseok guessed his wheelchair should be able to carry them both. He was glad for the elevator his family had built so he didn't have to figure out how someone with a possible tail would get up into the tree house.

"You're so versed in human stuff," Minseok said finally.

"Went to university, mastered in marine biology. Who do you think all those people trying to save the oceans are, humans?" Kyungsoo laughed dryly.

Minseok had nothing to say in reply. The conversation seemed to have died down so he picked up his pen again to scribble a few more lines. Through the seashell, he could hear what might be the sound of a tail fin hitting a water surface in a steady, playful rhythm.

"Don't go all shy on me now," Kyungsoo said after a quiet while.

"It's hard not to," Minseok admitted. "Now that I know you're listening."

"I might not." Minseok could almost hear the shrug. "I'm off duty so I nap most of the time here, and your stories are good lullabies."

Kyungsoo laughed again when Minseok made an offended sound, and it grew quiet between them again. Minseok could hear the sea, the constant call for him, the seagulls, the creaking wood of the tree house, the scratch of his pen over paper, Kyungsoo's breathing from far away. He started reading his edits out when he suspected Kyungsoo had fallen asleep, slow and in a whisper against the embarrassment. Stretched before he packed up and whispered goodbyes into the seashell, one for the sea, a new one for Kyungsoo, felt a ghostly reassurance that made his skin prickle with excitement when Kyungsoo whispered one back.

**Author's Note:**

> i am hereby asking you to picture kyungsoo sitting on minseok's lap just-married style as minseok wheels them to the tree house and keeps kyungsoo's tail out of the wheel. okay? okay ;;;
> 
> i was not supposed to write this so i of course have like 539 further ideas for it. minseok's a picture book artist btw!  
> this is like. super pre-dating but i promise they'll get there. also the idea here is that merfolk do have some magic and use it to let the young ones decide whether they want to receive human education and/or live on land, temporarily or until they die.  
> ty for reading 🐚  
> please let me know if it made you feel anything
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/fakeclover) | [cc](http://curiouscat.me/fakeclover)


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